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Feature Stories

We’ve got something for everyone here in Features — people stories, off-the-beaten-path kind of stories, science-in-action sagas. Take your pick!

20 April 2020
MagLab physical chemist Fred Mentink-Vigier tries to get some science done in his Tallahassee apartment. Frequent interruptions from his 3-year-old son make working from home a challenge. "It's hard for him to understand that he should not interrupt me, especially if I'm on a Zoom meeting," he said. (The same appears to be the case for Pesto the cat.)

What happens when you lock the scientists out of the lab?

That experiment is taking place right now. The data so far is mixed, but resourceful researchers find the upside.

12 February 2020
Jeremy Owens

A Conversation with Jeremy Owens

Thanks to funding from a prestigious fellowship, this MagLab geochemist will learn more about ancient climate change and shed light on modern climate change in the process.

22 July 2019
National MagLab chemist Yan-Yan Hu has been awarded a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to study defects in materials.

Practice makes imperfect

With a prestigious prize from the National Science Foundation, MagLab chemist Yan-Yan Hu hopes to boost the performance of materials by engineering them with the best possible flaws.

22 July 2019
National MagLab physicist Christianne Beekman has been awarded a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation that will support research into new quantum materials.

Spinning electrons into technology gold

With a prestigious prize from the National Science Foundation, MagLab physicist Christianne Beekman will do "atomic-level engineering" on ultra-thin materials with promising properties.

24 June 2019
Engineers install the resistive coils of the Series Connected Hybrid magnet inside its superconducting coils. Together, the coils generate a 36-tesla magnetic field.

Crossing a Mack truck with a Ferrari

Two MagLab teams tried marrying vastly different technologies to build a new type of magnet: the Series Connected Hybrid. Decades later, has the oddball pairing panned out?

31 May 2019
Hurricane Season at the MagLab

Hurricane Season at the MagLab

Located in a region prone to hurricanes, the National MagLab is ready to weather any storm.

17 April 2019
Organic geochemist Isabel Romero (left) tapped the expertise of MagLab chemist Amy McKenna (seated) to run her experiments on ocean sediments impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Getting to the bottom of Deepwater Horizon’s impact

Thanks to the MagLab’s expertise and unique instruments, a geochemist finds a treasure trove of oil-spill data buried beneath the sea.

2 August 2018
The magma-like environment inside this furnace is just what the superconductor Bismuth-2212 needs.

BiSCCO breakthrough

MagLab experts fine-tuned a furnace for pressure-cooking a novel superconducting magnet. Now they're about to build its big brother.

19 June 2018
Staffers from opposite ends of the building (Jonathan Billings, left, and Steve Rowland) meet at SnackChat.

"SnackChat" builds community at the MagLab

Monthly gatherings prepare employees for the dreaded awkward elevator ride.

4 June 2018
Team captain of the MagLab, Director Greg Boebinger (far left) with fellow team members from across the lab in front of the world-record 900 MHz NMR magnet.

Rooting for Team Science

From physics to chemistry to biology, science isn’t for loners anymore. It takes a squad to make progress in an increasingly interdisciplinary world.

9 May 2018
MagLab chemist Ryan Rodgers was awarded the Distinguished University Scholar Award from Florida State University earlier this month.

Ryan Rodgers makes it happen

With determination, confidence and a top-notch team, this MagLab chemist exposed the complex secrets of crude oil, busting open a vast, new field.

5 April 2018
CellBert isn't afraid to get a little dirty in his mission to keep our magnet areas clean as a whistle.

CellBert named lab’s Most Valuable Bot

The MagLab’s DC Field Facility hit pay dirt with this hire, who works tirelessly to keep magnet cells spick and span.

19 February 2018
The demands of competitive swimming prepared lab assistant Christopher Reis well for a science career.

Ten ways sports can make you a better scientist

Looking for something to give you the edge in your research? Join the team.

12 February 2018
Smitten Cooper pairs swing each other and dosey doe down a superconductor.

A match made in physics

Whether with people, particles or the forces of physics, love always finds a way.

4 October 2017
MagLab materials scientist Ke Han with tiny samples of manganese gallium, which has shown promise for magnetic applications.

Stuck with Neodymium?

Using high-field electromagnets, scientists explore a promising alternative to the increasingly expensive rare earth element widely used in motors.

17 July 2017
Charlie Sanabria checks on samples in the furnace.

Beating the heat treatment problem

Looking for ways to make better superconductors for the next-generation particle accelerators, a young scientist homed in on how they were heat-treated. He was getting warmer.

1 May 2017
Magneto-optical (MO) image of a 3.3 mm wide YBCO on RABiTS coated conductor.

Intro to high-temperature superconductors

At the National MagLab and other labs across the globe, the race to discover ever-warmer superconductors is heating up. Find out what these materials are, what they’re good for and why this field is red hot.

7 October 2016
Research on topological materials done at the MagLab.

Tapping into the Topological Promise

At the National MagLab, scientists have been experimenting for years on materials first dreamed up by the newest physics Nobel laureates decades ago.

26 August 2016
MagLab mechanical engineer Bob Walsh (left) and FSU professor Greg Erickson examine a cow skull damaged in the MTS machine.

MagLab measures a megabeast

When documentary filmmakers needed to know the bite force of a prehistoric megabeast, who did they turn to? The National MagLab.

13 July 2016
Ryan Baumbach monitors a crystal growth.

Seeing the future through crystals

Deep in their beautiful lattices, crystals hold secrets about the future of technology and science. Ryan Baumbach aims to find them.